Sunday, October 5, 2008

Arlington National Cemetery Meetup

I can tell you from my experience over the past two months that if you find yourself in a photo slump, try a nearby photo Meetup.com group - it's worked wonders for me, as I've been photographing nearly nonstop since early August. The energy from being around other enthusiastic photographers carries over between meetups.

I hadn't been to Arlington National Cemetery since 1964, when I was 14 years old. I was moved by the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, but not so much by the ceremony itself, as by the many WWII veterans attending. While most people were watching the precise ritual by members of the 3rd US Infantry Regiment, I was fixed on these true American heroes. As young men, they endured countless hardships for our sake, then came back home and quietly and modestly rebuilt their lives as well as the American prosperity of the postwar period. Now at the end of their lives, we are fortunate whenever we find ourselves in their presence.